


not all family is bound by blood

by ChlorineCI



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: A little bit of angst, Attempt at Humor, Baxter being a drama queen, Charlie and Vaggie being a fluffy couple, F/F, Fluff, Kidnapping, Multi, Panic Attacks, Please Kill Me, Poorly written, Toxic Relationships, Vox kinda being a jerk, Yeah idk either, characters being stupid, idk how to tag, inspired by Steven universes peridot redemption ark, self indulgent, someone gets pushed into a pool, someone gets threatened with a toothbrush, water phobia, weird au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23836627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChlorineCI/pseuds/ChlorineCI
Summary: (this is an au, where Baxter works for Vox)Vox wants to get rid of Alastor, for good. After so many failed attempts at killing the deer demon he turns to a certain fish to do it for him. Unfortunately It doesn't go quite as planned.....How will Charlie react to this new unwelcome guest?How will the hotel deal with a new found enemy?Will I ever take summaries seriously?HA no.
Relationships: Baxter & Charlie Magne, Baxter & Vox, Charlie Magne/Vaggie
Comments: 16
Kudos: 43





	1. And so the madness begins..

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for any grammatical errors, I am very dyslexic.

To say Vox was pissed off would be an understatement, he was absolutely livid. Time after time he had tried to kill that radio demon and put an end to that stupid hotel but each and every time he had failed. Vox sighed loudly as he leaned back into his leather office seat looking around the dark dreary place that was his office. So many failed attempts at finally ending that deer demons rein, so much wasted money and effort. 

He may as well just give up, after all he had already secured power and owned a hefty amount of territory not even including the fact he owned every T.V station in hell. But he wanted more, he wanted to rule over hell, to have Lucifer himself bow at his feet, but to be able to take down Lucifer and rule hell first he needed every single overlord on his side. He had gotten all the other overlords on board except for one, one who just so happened to be one of the most powerful overlords in hell. Who not only was admittedly the most powerful overlord in hell but was also working for Lucifer's daughter.

Now Alastor was not only not on his side (which was annoying as it is), but would also most likely be a huge roadblock in his quest for power. Naturally Alastor had to go, honestly it should have been quite easy after all he had countless holy weapons at his disposal and a fair few contacts of some of the best assassins in hell. Not only that but he also had a small army of minions (aka the poor unfortunate souls who had previously made binding deals with him to be forever at his eternal service). So logically, yes the deer demon should be dead by now. But alas no, he was still very much alive and prancing around with that hotel. Sure the reason for that was probably because of the fact he never actually tried to face the deer demon himself and usually got his minions to do the dirty work but that wasn’t the point, honestly what he really needed right now was someone to blame for all the mishaps.

Beep. Beep. Beep

Vox was pulled out of his internal monologue by his office phone ringing. He picked it up 

“y’ello” 

“Sir, someone is here to see you” said the bored voice that came out from the receiver. 

Ah Mindy, his receptionist “yes of course send them in”. Vox sat up straight in his chair and put on his best deceitfully happy smile watching the door waiting for his next vict- sorry I meant visitor. A quiet knock on the door signified they were here, “come in” he said in a very forced cheerful tone. There was a heistatent pause before the door creaked open and a very short yet very familiar demon stepped into the room. Oh right him, Vox let his forced smile drop seeing as it wasn’t anyone important. A few tense seconds passed before the smaller demon broke the silence “You uhhh wanted to see me” oh yeah he had wanted to see the small fish demon, why? He couldn’t quite remember.

Vox put on his forced smile again just in case and gestured to the cheap stool on the other side of his desk. “Yes, umm I did say that didn’t I? uh please take a seat” the smaller fish demon stared at the stool for a second as if it was planning to eat him before hesitantly taking a seat. More tense silence followed and the demon across from him was seemingly very fascinated by his shoes.

Vox just sat there not so discreetly examining the other demon's face trying to recall why he would call such an insignificant minion to his office. Then it hit him “oh" he said realisation hitting him, "You wouldn't happen to be that one scientist demon who had invented those weapons and had tried to kill the radio demon for me before failing miserably, would you?” the fish demon visibly started to sweat a little. Vox smiled like a shark thriving off the smaller demons fear “What was your name again, Baker? Braxton? Something with a B I think”.

“Baxter” the smaller demon corrected nervously. Baxter huh, he vaguely remembered a while back making a deal with the smaller demon, something about him not killing him in exchange for his services. “So tell me Baxter how long have you worked for me now?” 

“Uhh, well I’ve been working for you for close to 70 years now, sir” the fish responded and then started to ramble about how he needed more time or something, Vox couldn't be bothered to pay attention anymore. Actually the fish demons voice was rather annoying, so nasally and whiny it was starting to give him a headache. “Right yeah whatever, what is it you do again?” Vox said with disinterest “I uh make weapons for you sir and am one of your head scientists” the small demon said with a little more confidence, basically all Vox could hear at this point was ‘im annoying, expendable and easily replaceable’. “Yeah right, and those ‘weapons' that you make for me, have they in any way helped bring the radio demon to his knees?”.

Baxter looked down suddenly very interested in his shoes again, “Right that's what I thought, anyways for obvious reasons” Vox said gesturing to the fish demon “I have made the very rational decision to fire you as all your existence is doing at the moment is taking up funding and space, Alright now thats been sorted you can pack up your stuff and get out of my office”. Baxter stood up suddenly “b-but sir you can’t be serious i've worked loyally under you for many, many years also I live in the lab if you fire me where will I live? or, or-” Vox at this point was very much done talking to the scientist and was already ushering him out of his office as the fish demon continued to rant “-a-and how will I make money now?” 

“become a prostitute?” Vox suggested sweetly before shoving him out the door and slamming it on the smaller demons stupid fishy face.

Vox then sighed with relief having finally gotten rid of that annoying scientist, before sinking back into his leather seat continuing his planning for the downfall of that damn radio demon and that equally irritating hotel.

\--------------------------------

Baxter had been roaming the streets of pentagram city for while now completely lost in his brooding, how could Vox get rid of him so easily? He was his most loyal scientist yet Vox had failed to even remember his name. In fact Baxter was pretty sure he was part of the reason Vox had become so successful. So many successes yet when he failed just once he was thrown away like some discarded toy. 

Soon the sky started to grow dark, Pentagram city at night was certainly no place for someone as small or physically weak as Baxter was. Yes he was extremely intelligent but his esca basically made him a glowing beacon, you may as well just stick a light up sign on him that says ‘kidnap or murder me please’. Baxter continued walking very much aware that if he wanted to survive the night he was going to need to find a place to stay quick. He passed porn studios and briefly contemplated what Vox had said earlier but quickly brushed it off.

\--------------------------------

Charlie cleared her throat, “now i'm sure you all know why we're here” Husk took a sip of his beer “nope”. Charlie laughed nervously “well I'm sure some of us know why we're here”. All the demons packed into the lobby looked at each other in confusion “uhh, not really toots” Angel said fiddling with a.. (was that a dildo?!). Vaggie pinched the bridge of her nose “did any of you actually read the announcement board?” quiet murmurs went around the room, Vaggie sighed “Alright as you all know the little Vox problem has been getting a little out of hand and Charlie and I are very concerned for the hotel and the wellbeing of our patrons”. More murmures went around the room, then Nifty put up her hand “ummm who’s Vox again”. Before Vaggie could answer Angel Dust butted in “ya know the T.V guy who keeps trying ta destroy the hotel” Nifty smiled “ooooohhhh him, yeah I don’t like him much”. Though everyone in the room loved Nifty dearly, she certainly wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Alastor laughed behind her “yes Nifty dear I think we can all agree we don’t like Vox very much.”

Charlie then coughed to get everyone's attention “yes well umm anyways the reason I called you all here is because we think Vox might be planning something big for the hotel but were not sure what yet.. so does anyone have any ideas about what that might be or how we can get that information?”. Charlie looked around the room and was disappointed by the silence until Angel looked as though he’d been struck by lightning. “Okay I have an idea!” Vaggie looked doubtful “a good one?”. Angel smirked “That is debatable, but hear me out! what we need is someone who works closely with Vox, we need someone who knows information but is nowhere near as powerful as him we need someone who would be willing to rat Vox out”. Vaggie looked almost impressed, almost.. “Oh yeah? well where are we possibly going to find someone like that?”.

Angel dust looked unbothered by the question and practically waved it off “easy, I mean you saw how many goons this guy has, one of em has to have some kinda information, I mean all we gotta do is wait till one of em is... I dunno far enough away from Vox then boom. A little chloroform to the nose and a burlap sack will do the job nicely. Then all we need ta do is ask a few questions, use a little violence if necessary and everything will be right as rain”. Charlie looked a little concerned but Alastor was smiling wider than before “well I don’t know it just seems a little.. Risky?” Charlie said. Alastor shook his head. “Well I for one love the idea, I mean just imagine Vox’s face when he sees the head of his coworker in his mailbox, it would be truly hilarious!” Angel coughed awkwardly “that's not what I meant but, sure?”. Everyone in the room murmured in agreement to Angel's plan even Vaggie caved in. Only Charlie was left a little conflicted but eventually had to agree.

And so the planning began….


	2. Angel Dust has a bad idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel has a bad idea. An unwelcome guest enters the hotel. Charlie has an even worse idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah yes more poorly written content.

Angel Dust, much to Alastor's dismay, had called his friend Cherri to help with the plan. Vaggie had specifically chosen Alastor to go with Angel and Cherri so he could make sure they didn’t screw up the plan. The ‘plan’ in his humble opinion was quite a mess. Soon after the original meeting the misfits had immediately started planning how they would get their hands on one of Vox’s underlings. After about an hour of arguing back and forth they eventually decided it was too risky to actually go into one of Vox’s T.V stations, so they would have to just ask around pentagram city until they found one. As for how they were going to capture it was an entirely different matter and was argued about as well, they then eventually decided that they were just going to go with Angel's original plan and just use the ye old burlap sack and chloroform. Obviously Alastor could probably find and capture one of Vox’s underlings quite easily but if he was being honest he got a hell of a lot more entertainment out of watching this terribly thought out plan in action.

“So” Angel Dust said breaking the silence “would ya happen to know any places Vox’s goons like ta hangout, a bar maybe” Alastor chuckled and shook his head “Ha, I very much doubt such a place would exist my dear fellow and even if it did the chance of me knowing about it would be very slim” at this notion Angel seemed to deflate a little. They continued walking around pentagram city for a bit but soon enough the sky started to darken indicating it was nearly nighttime. They were all about ready to head back to the hotel when Cherri spotted a light in the distance. As it came closer they soon realised it was not in fact a light but a demon and a familiar one at that. Angel quickly realised who it was and hid behind some bins whilst also indicating for Cherri to do the same. Alastor also soon too realised who it was and melted into the shadows. “I thought we had killed that guy” Angel whispered “who is he?” Cherri whispered back. “Well, like a week ago this crazy fish guy who said he worked for Vox like totally kidnapped Vaggie n shit, not a good move since Vaggie ended up escaping and blowing up most of the building” Angel chuckled a little at the memory. 

Alastor hissed at them to quiet down. The unsuspecting angular fish continued to walk and mutter to himself. Angel crept up behind the fish and in one swoop, scooped up the small demon with the burlap sack. There was silence for a second before outraged screeching could be heard. Alastor's ears started to twitch in annoyance before he snapped his fingers and the screeching stopped, Angel and Cherri stared at him with questioning gazes which he just brushed off by saying it was just a simple sleeping spell.

Angel had been the one to carry the sack as they made their way back to the hotel, when they got back to the hotel lobby they had been greeted by a fair few very surprised faces as most people in the hotel were doubtful Angel's plan would actually work. Angel had put the sack on the lobby floor as the rest of the hazbin crew continued to argue- sorry I meant to discuss how they would get the small fish demon to give up the information. Charlie was still very conflicted about this whole thing but listened in anyways. Meanwhile a certain fish scientist's sleeping spell was wearing off.

\-------------------------------  
Baxter opened his eyes groggily confused at first then slowly he started to remember what had happened, and he was furious. He just barely repressed another angry screech, reminding himself that he could not let his captures know he was awake. He soon realised he wasn’t tied up or even gagged (really quite stupid of his captures). He also soon realised he was in a mere burlap sack which, for someone with his teeth and claws would be quite easy to rip his way out of. He came to the conclusion his captures were clearly either inexperienced or morons or maybe both. 

He knew he had to be sneaky about this, despite the fact his captures were incomptent he could hear multiple demons in room and no matter how stupid they were he was no where near large enough to take down multiple demons at once. Luckily at that moment they all seemed to be talking rather loudly, in fact loudly enough that he could probably start ripping at the bag and they probably wouldn’t notice. He started quietly tearing at the bag whilst the demons outside continued to argue.

Soon enough he had made a sizable hole, he peeked out of it looking around just to make sure none of the other demons were watching. Success! they all had their backs on him. He looked around realising he seemed to be in some sort of hotel lobby? How peculiar. He looked around the room looking for some sort of exit and- Bingo, there was a front door (which was not abnormal for a hotel lobby he supposed). Alright he needed to time this perfectly one wrong move and his captures would be on him in seconds. 3, 2, 1 Baxter crawled out of the hole and tried to quietly yet quickly sneak away.

The demons who had captured him didn’t seem to notice him as he made his way to the front door, he soon reached his destination silently congratulating himself on his genius and thanking Lucifer for their incompetence. He opened the door ready to make a run for it. Suddenly he was face to face with a red wall. Wait, he looked up only to see none other than the radio demon. What was the radio demon doing- oh, the realization hit him like a brick to the face.

“Going somewhere my good fellow” the radio demon said in his trademark staticky voice, Baxter slowly backed away running into a sharp pointy thing he turned around only to see the demon he had previously captured (veggie? Was that her name) holding a spear to his chest. Without truly thinking he tried to make a run for it, he didn’t quite know where he was running exactly since the exit was blocked. He could hear people's footsteps running behind him. He had to make another move quickly if he didn’t want to become the radio demon and his friends next lunch, luckily he spotted another door.  
He used his smaller stature and speed to avoid the demons trying to grab him and flung open the door praying for there to be something useful behind it. He slammed the door shut quickly realising it thankfully had a lock. He locked the door and turned around knowing he didn’t have much time before they broke the door down, and… just his luck, this was a bathroom. Great… 

\-------------------------

Charlie watched as the small scientist locked himself in their bathroom. Alastor came up behind her “so do you want me knock down the door or-” Alastor was cut off by Angel Dust, “Oh that prick of course he chose the bathroom of all places”. Alastor rolled his eyes and went up to the door ready to obliterate it with his magic. “Wait guys!, can I uhh talk to you for a second” everyone turned and looked at Charlie who signaled for them to come closer. 

Everyone gathered around her and she cleared her throat nervously “guys I don’t think we really should be using violence to get information out of this guy”. Vaggie rolled her eye,  
“Charlie, I know you only have good intentions but now is not the time for ethics. I mean you do realize this is literally the same guy who kidnapped me, also he works for one of the scummiest people in hell, aside from Alastor of course”. Alastor scoffed “for once Vaggie is right, and that..” Alastor looked over at the bathroom door “..thing hardly deserves even an ounce of your mercy, besides how else will we get the information from it, I hardly think it's willing to share such sensitive information on the spot”. Charlie shook her head “well what if instead of violence as a way of getting information we instead used, oh, I don’t know... trust we could befriend him and maybe then he’ll spill the information”.

Vaggie sighed “that's really sweet hun, but isn’t a care bears movie this is real life”. Charlie looked at her girlfriend with a surprisingly determined expression “Well what if I at least tried, it could be a little experiment? To see how this redemption thing works, also if I get him to trust me and share the information we will not only have gained a friend but also a useful ally”. Alastor looked thoughtful 

“hmmm, a week”

“what?”

“I’ll give you a week to see if your little experiment works and gets the information we need''. Vaggie and Charlie looked at Alastor in surprise “a-a week” Charlie stuttered. “Why yes of course I mean we do need the information and I am quite curious to see how this will turn out, so I promise not to hurt it until the week is over but if the week ends and it hasn’t shared the information then unfortunately I will have to get it out the hard way”.

Charlie looked hopeful “and if he has shared the information?” Vaggie interrupted “there is no way I'm staying under the same roof as that bitch for a week, and what if they escape? also in case you haven’t noticed we kind of need the information as soon as possible, I mean what if Vox is planning to attack the hotel again?”. Alastor chuckled “I am quite aware that we need the information soon, but a week won’t kill us and as for it escaping” strange symbols surrounded the deer demon “you won’t need to worry about that”. 

Alastor looked around the rest of the room “is there any objections to Charlie's plan” everyone grumbled a bit but all ended up agreeing seeing as the hotel was owned by the princess and she technically could do what she wanted with it. Alastor looked around the room with his signature grin “Excellent, something tells me this is going to be very entertaining~”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay. Even more plot holes.


	3. beef stew.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baxter being a little drama queen for an entire chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is shorter than usual, but this chapter is mostly a filler before the real fun begins.

Baxter stood in the middle of the bathroom frantically trying to find some sort of exit. Ah-ha, he spotted a small rectangular window above the sink. As fast as he could manage he climbed onto the sink, opened the window (which was luckily unlocked) and attempted to crawl out of it, attempted was the key word. No sooner had he tried to go out of the window, a seemingly invisible force pushed him back inside. He blinked in confusion before trying again. Again he face planted right into an invisible barrier of sorts. This time he tried putting his hand out the window, only for him to hit an invisible barrier. He seethed, of course. Alastor was one of the most powerful overlords in hell obviously he easily could have put a barrier on the exits to stop him escaping.

Baxter looked back at the locked door and weighed his options. Technically there was a chance if he unlocked the door he may have a chance of escaping but he was pretty sure the radio demon most likely would have put the same barrier spell over the whole hotel. Not to mention the misfits were probably about 2 seconds away from knocking the door down and most likely killing him. After all that was probably why they kidnapped him as some form of revenge. There was really no way out of this, Baxter sat on the bathroom floor resigned to his fate.

A few minutes passed and yet the door was still standing. Huh that was a little strange especially considering he was sure they saw him run in here. A few more minutes passed, okay he could see what they were doing now clearly they were trying to drag it out for as long as possible as a method to tourture him with his own anxiety, well it wasn’t going to work. A few more minutes passed, okay well maybe it was working a little. 15 minutes had passed now and still nothing had happened, they were really dragging it out. 30 minutes now, they were practically gloating now.

Baxter sat on the cold bathroom tiles, since it was nighttime the only light coming in was from his own esca that he had been cursed with and the light streaming in from the crack under the door. He had gradually come to the conclusion they didn’t want to kill him (yet) as revenge for kidnapping Veggie (that was her name right?). Clearly they needed him alive, but for what? Maybe they were going to tourture him then kill him, or maybe they planned to keep him in this bathroom until he went insane. Then there was the possibility they were trying to break him so they could use his intelligence for themselves, they were truly diabolical weren't they?.

Soon Baxter started wondering about Vox, was he looking for him? Probably not. Was this just his life now? Forever trapped in a bathroom until he gradually wasted away. After about what seemed to be days? Months? Years even (it was actually about an hour) Baxters stomach started the growl, ah-ha he knew what they were doing now, clearly trying to starve him. 

\-----------------------

Charlie had ultimately decided that she was not going to forcefully get the small fish demon out of the bathroom, but rather slowly coax him out as to gain his trust. Everyone was okay with that idea seeing as they had multiple bathrooms, actually only Vaggie and Angel dust were a little pissed since Vaggie’s toothbrush was still in there and Angel's expensive shampoo was still in there as well. But other than that everyone was very thankful; that they wouldn’t have to see the fish demon for a while.

The rest of the night went pretty normally aside from a certain furious fish now living in their bathroom. For dinner Nifty made a simple beef stew that everyone had eaten, even Alastor (“it's not venison but it will do I suppose”). But before anyone could have seconds Charlie snagged an extra bowl of it for their unhappy guest, Vaggie had rolled her eyes but otherwise didn’t say anything about it.

\---------------------------

Baxter had so far mapped out the entire bathroom out of boredom, he practically knew where every crevice and crack was. He had gone through the cabinet as well, sadly he didn’t find anything useful. He was in the middle of counting the tiles when-

Knock, knock

Knocking came from the door and just like that Baxter was instantly alert, he grabbed the nearest weapon (which just so happened to be a toothbrush) and tried to hide behind the sink just in case the intruder came in. “Umm, hello” came a soft femine voice from outside the door that he recognised to be the princess of hell herself. “It's fine if you don’t want to answer, but umm I bought you some stew, I thought you might be hungry” a tense silence followed. “Umm, yeah so i’ll just leave it outside the door so you can grab it whenever” Baxter listened carefully not coming out from behind the sink until he heard her footsteps fade signifying she had left.

What in hell was the hotel playing at? Well there was one thing he knew for sure, the food was most likely either poisoned or a trap and unfortunately for them he was not dumb enough to fall for it.

An hour passed, and he did everything he could to distract himself from his rumbling stomach, he had even built a small fort out of the bottled products he had found under the sink. The cruelest thing however was that he could actually smell the stew outside his door. Another hour past and from the sounds of things it seemed like everyone had gone to their rooms.

A few more hours later and Baxter was almost willing to take his chances with the stew. 

Now Baxter was certain his stomach would eat itself, he looked over at the toothpaste wondering the nutritional value.

At precisely 3:30 in the morning Baxter caved.

He cautiously unlocked the door as quickly as possible and grabbed the food closing and locking the door behind him. He sniffed it, then proceeded to eat the whole thing in less than a gulp (quite an amazing feat). When he had finished it he had cursed his weak willedness. He waited for a few minutes just to see if he was right about it being poisoned, unless it was a slow working poison he came to the conclusion they needed him alive but for what reason? 

Baxter then used the towels in the cabinet as a makeshift bed and fell into an uneasy rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to edit this more later but till then I hope you enjoyed this instalment of Baxter being overdramatic. This chapter was very lazy.


	4. Everyone likes PBJ sandwiches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaggie and Charlie being cute together.
> 
> what? sticking a bunch of emotionally broken demons together didn't solve all my problems?
> 
> its now Baxters turn at having a bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again

Charlie woke up bright and early ready to start the day. 

“C’mon Vaggie we’ve got work to do” Charlie said way too enthusiastically for 7 in the fucking morning. Vaggie pulled the covers over her head groaning. “C’mon” Charlie said in her best cute voice trying to gently pull the covers off her girlfriend. “Five more minutes” a grumble came from under the covers.

Charlie smiled a little at her girlfriend's teenage mannerisms. “You know morning meeting is going to start soon..” Vaggie just snuggled deeper into the covers, “..also Niftys making pancakes” Vaggies head immediately popped off the pillow. Charlie chuckled a little as Vaggie finally got out of bed. “Fine I’m up” she said with a yawn groggily making her way to the bathroom.  
\-----------------  
Charlie came down to the lobby clipboard in hand ready to start the morning meeting. She had introduced morning meeting about a month into the hotel's opening, morning meeting was basically roll call in disguise so she could keep track of all her patrons. Usually only Vaggie, Nifty and occasionally Alastor would show up, so she had started to introduce prizes for whoever showed up to the most morning meetings.

That got her patrons interested for a while and soon most people started to attend however when they found out the ‘prize box’ only had stickers and colorful erasers in it people stopped attending again. So then she had made it mandatory to attend but still barely anyone came. She ended up having to threaten to take away the bar/front desk if people didn’t show up. Now almost everyone comes to morning meetings.

“Okay” Charlie said with a bright smile looking around at her patrons, good it seemed everyone was here, except for.. Alastor which wasn’t very surprising. “Announcements for today are..” Charlie looked down at her clip board “okay so we're going to have group therapy at 1:00pm today” everyone groaned simultaneously “..and if you have to use the bathroom, please use the one upstairs, any questions?”. Silence. “Okay well umm go back to whatever it was you were doing, Vaggie and I will see you all in group theory in a little while”.

After the morning meeting Charlie went to the lobby bathroom door to go collect the probably still full of stew plates she had left there last night. She was pleasantly surprised to see that the now empty plates and cutlery were packed together neatly outside the door. She gave the empty plates to Nifty who took them to the dishwasher.

The rest of the morning had all the normal problems, Fat nuggets got stuck in an air vent, Crymini annoyed Alastor so much with her pranks she had to be rescued by Charlie and Vaggie just so she wouldn’t be eaten by the deer demon, Husk gave everyone a heart attack by suddenly fainting onto the couch and everyone thought his pulse had stopped luckily he woke up (he says his pulse temporarily stops all the time, is that healthy?) and Mimzy tried to make cookies and ended up setting the kitchen on fire. 

Soon it was 1:00pm and all the misfits had begrudgingly made their way to the ‘therapy room’ (it was actually a spare guest room with the words therapy room scrawled on the door). 

About an hour into the session everyone was arguing and insulting each other, Charlie rubbed her temples getting very irritated. The last straw was when Angel Dust threw Charlie’s clipboard across the room. “EVERYBODY SHUT UP”everyone fell silent and stared at Charlie's demonic form, even Alastor looked a little startled but quickly regained his composure. Charlie quickly morphed back into her usual much friendlier form “uh, hehe sorry ‘bout that guys” everyone just stared at her “you know what I need a glass of water, Vaggie do you mind taking them for a little bit” Vaggie nodded her head still a little surprised.

Charlie wasn’t actually thirsty; she really just needed a break. She felt a little bit bad about losing her temper at everyone back there, so she would have to properly apologize when she came back. 

Charlie headed down the stairs going back into the lobby deciding that while she wasn’t thirsty she was quite hungry. She headed to the kitchen and started to make herself a ham sandwich. As an afterthought she started to make a second one for their ‘guest’. He would probably be quite hungry by now.

Wait, was he even a he? She wasn’t quite sure since ‘he’ had never mentioned what gender they were, sure they had spoken but their voice was quite high pitched and could honestly belong either gender (or no gender). Come to think of it she didn’t even know their name, the people in the hotel usually just called them ‘that fish guy’. Actually she hadn’t even really been able to get a good look at them. She decided to make them a PBJ instead just to be safe in case they didn’t like ham, after all everyone likes PBJ sandwiches.

Charlie continued to muse to herself as she walked towards the bathroom door. How would she even get them to trust her, sure giving them food was a start but what even was her strategy going to be? By showing them kindness maybe? Some part of her hasn’t even quite forgiven them for kidnapping her girlfriend. Gosh maybe she should have just let the misfits get the information out of them the hard way, but at the same time she didn’t know what the fish had gone through or why they were working for Vox, maybe all they needed was to be shown a little kindness to nudge them onto the road to redemption.

After all it's not like Vaggie got hurt, for all she knew they could have been forced or tricked into working for Vox. That's not to say she wouldn’t still be cautious around them; they did actively work for Vox after all, but it never hurt to show a little compassion.

Maybe she could start by talking to them to get their side of the story. Charlie soon reached her destination, and knocked on the door attempting to be as non-threatening as possible. 

“Hi umm, it's me again uhh my names Charlie by the way I bought you a PBJ sandwich, since it's lunchtime”

\------------------ 

Baxter sat, perched on the bathroom sink, his legs dangling off the edge as he continued to write calculations on his hand with a spare pen that he had found in his pocket. He was trying to figure out a suitable escape plan so he could get out of this damn hotel. He wasn’t quite sure what his master plan would be since the only things in his vicinity at the moment were: half a stick of deodorant, a toothbrush, some very expensive looking shampoo, a couple of towels and an old mouldy bar of soap.

He wasn’t quite brave enough to go search for more objects outside the safety of the bathroom just yet. Baxter chewed his pen still staring at the slightly smudged ink on his hand before- 

Knock, knock

Baxter was so startled he let out a very girly- sorry very manly screech before falling off the sink in an undignified heap.

“Hi umm, it's me again uhh my names Charlie by the way, I bought you a PBJ sandwich, you know since it's lunchtime”

Oh her.

“I also thought you might be a little lonely all by yourself here, so I uhh thought maybe we could chat about some things and get to know each other a bit”.

Liah, kidnappers don’t just casually chat with their victims unless they want something. So what was she actually here for? Baxter pressed his fin against the door paying very close attention to her tone of voice.

An awkward cough came from the other side of the door.

“Heh, you’re not very talkative are you?”

Hmmm this was all very suspicious he should probably just ignore her and- suddenly it all clicked, she runs a literal hotel for redemption of course she wouldn’t let them kill him but if they didn’t kidnap him for revenge then why did- Vox, he worked for Vox. But why was she being nice to him? Hmmmm, they probably needed something something from him. 

All the puzzle pieces were coming together (actually he was a little embarrassed it took him this long to figure it out). A plan started to form, the princess was famous for being very compassionate and (stupidly) always seeing the best in demons. If he flipped the board and played along for long enough he could gain her trust and become a spy of sorts and when their defences were lowered enough he would simply just sneak out and tell Vox the weaknesses of Alastor and the hotel then Vox would have no choice but to take him back, not only that but he would finally get his sweet sweet revenge on that damn hotel.

Baxters smirked evilly then Charlies stupid cheerful voice had to ruin the moment.

“Well, umm if you don’t feel comfortable enough talking maybe you could try knocking instead? Like maybe one knock could mean yes and two knocks mean no? Is that okay?”

Baxter rolled his eyes and knocked on the door once.

He could have sworn he heard a high pitched squeal from the other side of the door, weird.

For about 10 minutes Charlie asked him yes or no questions which he had responded with in her stupid knocking launguge. She asked him equally stupid questions such as asking him what his favourite colour was then proceeding to go through every color of the rainbow until he gave a confirming knock (it was blue). Since she didn’t really want to go through all the letters in the alphabet she had just started to call him by a very embarrassing nickname, he was already starting to regret this plan. 

Not soon enough the princess had to leave.

“Aw sorry Vaggie texting me, she needs help with group therapy bye Guppy '' Baxter only barely resisted the urge to groan at that nickname.

What had he gotten himself into?


	5. Dress for the occasion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baxter pisses off Nifty and bitches about how much he hates sea creatures that's literally it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters pretty short sorry.
> 
> eh well basically no one reads this bullshit anyways.

Boredom. It was not something Baxter was very familiar with, even in life he had always had something to do. And even after he died and hadn’t worked for Vox he could always find a way to keep himself busy. 

And now here he was 110 years after his death sitting cross-legged on the bathroom floor of the enemy completely unable to think of any way to entertain himself, already accepting his fate and watching the seconds tick by in a cruel never ending cycle of pain. How long had he been imprisoned for? months? years? On the first day of Baxter’s confinement he had scratched a tally into the wall and had been keeping track ever since.

He looked over at the wall of tallies surprising himself by only seeing three. three days, it had only been three godamn days. Baxter let out a huff of annoyance and started fiddling with his gloves. He never really took off his gloves, even when he wasn’t doing experiments. 

He didn’t really like his hands, they were all weird and webbed and bioluminescent and kind of freaked him out. In fact his whole demon form kind of freaked him out, in life he had always hated fish especially those sea monster type things that his peers would sometimes tell stories about, actually just marine life in general. Fish were so slimy and some had big teeth and others prowled the deepest darkest parts of the ocean. So he was not too thrilled when he had appeared in hell in the form of an angler fish demon. It was kind of ironic actually, someone who hated water taking the form of a creature who lives in water. Cruel, cruel irony.

Then there was a quiet knock on the door. 

Oh for fucks sake.

“Hi, its Charlie again, I brought you some things you know like a change of clothes. I’ll just uhhh leave them outside the door” he then heard her footsteps fade.

Well it was obvious they weren't planning on killing him and his boredom had killed most of his paranoia hours ago. Although the paranoia he did have left made him wait another minute before he cautiously unlocked the door and opened the bathroom door a crack peeking out into the lobby. Good it seemed as if no-one was around. He quickly bent down and collected the ‘things’ Charlie had told him about. After putting them in the safety of the bathroom he went back to the door that still was open a crack.

He looked out at the lobby again debating whether or not he should actually go out and scope out the place since no one was currently around. He stepped out of the safety of the bathroom before immediately tripping/running into something. Horrified he looked down and was met with a very cheerful looking cyclops demon, shorter than him by about 5 inches. “Hello! Are you the new resident” it said with an almost comically high pitched voice. He gave a surprised screech, pushing the thing out of his space before slamming the door on its face and locking it out. He hid behind the sink listening very closely for further movement, he soon heard what sounded like an irritated huff and a quiet “rude”.

Baxter stared at the door worried that maybe the strange demon would try and knock the door down. After a few seconds later and he heard presumably the cyclops' demons' footsteps gradually fade away. He waited in a tense position just in case but when nothing happened he let out a sigh of relief.

He then went over the ‘things’ Charlie had gifted him. The ‘things’ consisted of a grey hoodie with the words ‘dress for the occasion bitch’ in hot pink printed on the front (which was much too large for him) and black slacks (also too big for him), and even if the clothing items were his size there was no way in hell he would wear either item and would like to stick to his navy blue lab coat thank-you-very-much. On the tag of the hoodie messily written in ink were the words ‘crymini’, what even was a ‘crymini’? Was it poisonous?

Baxter shook his head, it was probably just a brand name or something. The other items consisted of a packet of colourful crayons (not in any sort of order he noted), some paper, a childrens book about sharing (he had no words), and a note:

'Thought it might be a little boring all by yourself in the bathroom so I put together some things for you. Enjoy.'

-Charlie

At the end of the note there was a little rainbow and a smiley face.

Baxter rolled his eyes a little. Oh well he supposed it was kinda thoughful of her to give him these things, even if that thoughfulness was a little misplaced. He was actually starting to wonder if the princess was actually this cheery and it wasn’t just a facade like he had previously thought. He felt a slight something tugging at his gut an awful lot like anxiety but not quite, what was that feeling? Hmmmm fear maybe? No it was something else. Oh right guilt. Baxter shook his head repressing the stupid little black beetle feeling in his stomach. 

\--------------------

The day had been going pretty well so far, only a total of three disputes had happened in the hotel so far. Charlie checked her phone 6:20pm, not too bad. She walked down the hall trying to find Alastor as it was his turn to cook that night before running into something. That something was Nifty who was looking very displeased about something. “Oh uh sorry Nifty, I didn’t see you there” 

The cyclops demon shook her head frantically zooming around Charlie “no,no,no the new guest simply won’t do, his rude and mean and quite frankly a mess”

“Calm down Nifty, what new guest?”

“The blue one! With the light on his head, the one that lives in the bathroom” she said whilst rather aggressivly sweeping the floor.

Oh. realisation hit her “wait where they outside the bathroom by any chance?” Nifty just huffed in annoyance “he was about to leave the bathroom I think, then when he saw me he just slammed the door on my face, not a very gentlemanly welcome” she then ran off down the hallway in an angry huff cleaning supplies in hand.

Charlie was left standing there a little confused. But that did mean he at least trusted them enough to almost leave the bathroom right? (also according to Nifty he was in fact a he) and that was a start.

She could work with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it was at this moment I realised this redemption thing is probably gonna be a bit of a slow burn ngl


	6. writers block is a bitch (NOT A CHAPTER)

guys this is just a heads up i'm probably not going to be updating this fic for a while due to writers block and life being hectic.

basically this story's going to be on a hiatus for a while.

how long?

probably for a week at best and a couple months at worst.

Don't worry i'm not quitting, Ive already planned out the story and have spent way to many hours on this bullshit to quit.

anyways this was just a disclaimer in case your wondering why I'm missing out on my weekly updates.

i'm pretty sure like only one person reads this story anyways.

Alright I'll see you guys later.

bye...


	7. Braxton.L Faustus of reed av.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie has another truly awful idea (how does she keep coming up with these?) and Baxter 'comes out'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did ya miss me? Who am I kidding ya'll probably didn't even notice. 
> 
> Anyways without further ado lets get on with it.

June 10th 1905

He held the letter in his hands. On the letter was a red stamp with the college logo engraved on the wax. Underneath was soft cursive writing ‘Braxton.L Faustus of reed av. 1905’. He was almost scared to open it. What if he wasn’t accepted? That was ridiculous he knew, after all he had topped all his classes and the entry test was fairly easy he thought. Palms sweaty, he opened the letter. “Well what does it say?” Tommy said anxiously “I-I got in” Tommy squealed and hugged him. Usually with any other person Braxton would have shoved them off and probably yelled profanities at them. But this was Tommy, his best (and only) friend since childhood.

July 10th 1906

Braxton watched in fascination as his professor delicately injected the specimen with the chemical. The class watched, some horrified, some concerned and some excited as the rat began to have a violent fit frothing at the mouth then slowly curled up on itself and died. The class began to take notes, only Braxton stayed after class. “But sir if the chemical works on rats why can’t we use it on humans? As a weapon of some kind?” his professor shook his head “Mr Faustus I don’t think you understand how inhumane it would be to try this chemical out on a human, why it would simply be barbaric” “Well how would we know if we didn’t try?” “‘Mr Faustus I think it's time for you to leave now, no more of this mad nonsense” his professor finished packing up his stuff and left the auditorium leaving Braxton alone with his thoughts. 

Baxter woke up shivering.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie didn’t have much time left, it had already been 4 days and yes she had made some progress but how was she supposed to redeem someone and get information about Vox out of them in three days, she needed more time. 

She walked into the hotel's communal kitchen still trying to figure out how she was going to pull this off, as she walked in she failed to notice the red figure behind her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and screamed before turning around to see Alastor. “Hello my dear! I just came round to ask you how progress is going with our little fish friend and to remind you that you only have 3 days left before we have to use some more uh persuasive ways of getting information” a laugh track played in the background.

Charlie chuckled nervously “umm you know it's going fine, yep so much progress… his practically on the edge of telling me” Alastor smiled wider “Oh I'm sure it is” before another laugh track played. He then turned around to leave chuckling to himself. “Wait!” Charlie yelled after him, he turned around “yes?” Charlie looked thoughtful. “You can’t harm anyone who's joined the hotel right?” now this was interesting, what game was she playing at? “Well, yes that was part of the agreement of course, ‘no harm can come to any patrons registered at the hotel’ why do you ask my dear?” Charlie smiled slyly“oh nothing, see you at dinner Al”. 

Alastor watched as Charlie cheerfully made a sandwich and skipped towards the lobby. Yes she was certainly a strange one, but entertaining nonetheless. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie whistled a quiet tune to herself as she quickly approached the familiar door. “Hey guppy” silence from the other side of the door.

She needed to move quickly if she wanted her new plan to work

She tapped on the bathroom door once more before hearing shuffling and a mumbled string of curses. “I brought you lunch,” she said in her extra cheerful voice. No response. “Ummm so I’ve been thinking…” Alright Charlie time to put your epic persuasion skills to use. “So if you couldn’t already hear from the lack of noise all my staff and patrons have gone to group therapy” that had been Vaggies idea, she smiled a little at the thought of her girlfriend- no she had to stay focused. “ And it's probably quite boring all alone in a bathroom all day so maybe you would want to, oh I don’t know come out and have lunch with me? Maybe we could discuss a few things? Only if you want to though”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“and it's probably quite boring all alone in a bathroom all day so maybe you would want to, oh I don’t know come out and have lunch with me? Maybe we could discuss a few things? Only if you want to though”

Baxter knew the princess probably would have asked him something like that eventually but even though he knew that the question still caught him a little off guard. Did he want to leave the safety of the bathroom (to be fair if they wanted to hurt him they probably would’ve knocked the door down by now) and risk it?

Baxter pondered this idea for a while. After all it could work both ways, he was pretty certain if the princess wanted to use violence against him she would’ve done so already and if he wanted the princess to trust him he supposed he’d have to actually talk to her. She probably wanted to bribe him into giving her the information about Vox or something. 

No matter he could probably just give them some fake location or something and lead them into a trap or when they weren't watching make a little call to Vox and finally get his job back. Baxter smiled a little at the thought.

He sighed deeply, talking to this annoyingly energetic cretin was tiring enough with a door in the way let alone in person. Oh well sacrifices have to be made he supposed.

\------------------------------

Charlie stood awkwardly out at the front of the door and was just about to give up and leave before she heard a quiet click of a door being unlocked before the bathroom door creaked open a little.

She smiled, pleased with herself before taking a deep breath and stepping into the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a horrible person so obviously this chapter had to end on a cliffhanger.
> 
> Writing schedule has changed from once a week to once every two weeks or so depending on how life is.
> 
> And yes there will be more of Baxters backstory later on (baxstory?).


	8. 'I'll think about it'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie carries out with her stupid plan.
> 
> Baxter eats yet another PB&J sandwich except this time with his new mom- *cough* I mean Charlie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its been a while but I'll get to the end of this story...
> 
> eventually.
> 
> Also i've updated chapter 7 so a few details have changed.

As soon as he unlocked the door Baxter felt as though he had instantly fucked up.

Logically he knew the chances of them killing him were quite slim. But even with that logic he felt as though he had just removed any sort of previous protection he had once had. Though he knew that was just complete nonsense seeing as the only ‘protection’ he had was a frail wooden door.

Despite that his instant reflex to the door creaking open was to scamper as far away from it as possible and grab the nearest weapon (which happened to be a toothbrush) and brandish it as though it was a sword.

\---------------------------

Charlie stepped into the dark bathroom, her nose wrinkling at the sudden smell of bleach. This bathroom hadn’t always smelled like that right? She squinted her eyes attempting to peer through the darkness (why was it so dark in here) failing to notice the faint glow at the back of the small room.

She felt the side of the wall for the light switch. The lights flickered to life illuminating the room. 

Charlie frowned a little at the rooms ‘redecorating’.

Chemicals and beauty cosmetics were placed neatly in alphabetical order. What used to be a stick of deodorant had seemingly been taken apart then put back together in the shape of what looked like a tiny gun. The mirror was covered in delicate little scratches that Charlie could make out to be tiny symbols and numbers, some kind of equations she thought to herself. She also noted the ripped up and re-fashioned pile of clothes she had given him a night or two back and the now in rainbow order pack of crayons, what happened to that book of sharing was a mystery. 

Finally her gaze landed on… what was that? A small form was pressed up against the wall pointing a toothbrush directly at her (was that Vaggies toothbrush?). The creature in question seemed to be a little taller than Nifty. It wore a navy blue lab coat and its (hair?) was slicked back in an orderly fashion. It- he had two glowing fins on the side of his face and a small light attached to his head. His small almost childish face was scrunched into one of clear panic as he pointed the toothbrush directly at her.

“Oh. my. Lucifer you’re so TINY and ADORABLE” she squealed. The creatures face morphed from fear to confusion. “Excuse me?” he said in an almost comically squeaky nasally voice.

“Ahem” she said finally taking control of herself. “Uh yeah sorry, you know with all the stories about you and.. Vox I was kind of expecting someone a bit more…”. He narrowed his eyes at her “A bit more what?”

“Well umm heh it doesn’t really matter” she chuckled awkwardly. He rolled his eyes and put the toothbrush in one of his lab coat pockets (for safekeeping). An awkward silence held heavy in the air. “So do you wanna leave the bathroom to eat orr” she trailed off at the last part.

Baxter narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her and as if reading his mind Charlie quickly said “don’t worry there's no-one in the lobby I made sure everyone got to group therapy today”.

The scientist nodded his head absentmindedly and walked towards the door noticeably keeping his distance from the princess (just in case) before sheepishly examining the lobby just to make sure.

He hummed in approval of the empty lobby before cautiously stepping outside the door with Charlie right behind him.

\------------------------------

The lobby was a large grand room with multiple doors and hallways going off of it. Baxter's brain automatically started mapping out the area and taking rough guesses of where each door went. He soon fell behind Charlie following her through an almost deafening quiet hallway. 

She stepped into a large kitchen/ dining room and Baxter followed quickly behind her. She made a gesture for Baxter to seat himself at the large dining table and placed in front of him a plate of peanut butter and jelly goodness. 

He sat down at the table trying to make as little noise as possible as he watched Charlie start to make herself a ham sandwich. His stomach grumbled reminding him of his hunger. 

He sniffed the food suspiciously before starting to dig in with a faint memory playing in the back of his head of someone very close to him scolding him for eating before everyone else was seated. But he couldn’t quite remember who. 

Hell was just like that sometimes. Your human memories would start to fade after a few years eventually just becoming distant feelings and blurred faces. With the exception of your death.

No-one ever forgot their death.

The loud clang of the princess sitting down at the table pulled him out of his thoughts. 

They ate their sandwiches in complete silence aside from the occasional awkward tune the princess seemed to sometimes hum whenever she was nervous. Baxter finished his sandwich first and painfully waited for the princess to finish hers whilst trying not to fidget.

After they had eaten the silence hung heavy over the room once again before the princess gave an awkward cough. She asked him a few questions and he answered as vaguely as possible.

“Angel dust said you were just walking around by yourself in the middle of the night”

“I know”

“Y’know it's really dangerous to walk around alone at night in hell, even for an overlord”

“I know”

….

“Then why were you walking around at night alone?”

….

“Because I didn’t have anywhere else to go”

“Oh… don’t you have a place to stay?”

“Not anymore”

….

An awkward pause.

“Well where did you live before?”

“In my lab”

“Oh isn’t that at-”

“Vox’s tv station, I know”

….

“Did he kick you out?”

Baxter didn’t answer suddenly, very interested at staring at the leaky kitchen sink. 

Charlie sighed.

“Ummm y’know this hotel sure does have a lot of empty rooms”

….

“Of course it does. Its a hotel”

“... and we need some more patrons”

Baxter stayed silent

“Y’know this place has free food and rent and the possibility of redemption and going to heaven”

Baxter snorted at the thought, redemption the mere suggestion of it. Yes he knew what game the princess was playing at.

“And?” 

“And would you like to, I dunno maybe join the hotel?

Wait… that wasn’t supposed to happen, she was supposed to attempt to bribe him into telling her Vox’s weaknesses and location and then he would lead her and the radio demon into a trap. She surely didn’t trust him enough to offer him a spot in her precious hotel. She seriously couldn’t think him of all people could be redeemed?

Did she?

Baxter just sat there dumbly as the princess stared at him expectantly.

…..

“I-I’ll think about it”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh cliffhangers amirite?
> 
> (anyways if you guys wanna check out my twitter and support me more here's my account @Jag_Rat I mostly post art there and have done a few drawings for this fic)


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